Quotes: What people have said about plans to upgrade the A303

Please note: Quotes made before Autumn 2002 would have applied to the old, cut-and-cover scheme for Stonehenge. The quotes listed here do not necessarily also apply to the currently proposed scheme.

Picture: Stonehenge by John Constable

English Heritage and the National Trust

The National Trust

Martin Drury, Director-General, The National Trust, The Guardian, 31 January 1996:

"If we cannot save Stonehenge from the Department of Transport then nothing is safe. It is a symbol of British heritage and we would be letting down our predecessors who fought so hard to buy the land roundabout (sic)"

In 1994, English Heritage and the National Trust described the long-bore tunnel as:

"The only feasible... route... which meets the essential requirements of this [Stonehenge] World Heritage Site... There is no historic site in England where we shall uphold our duty with greater resolve and determination"

Martin Drury, Director-General, The National Trust, Daily Telegraph, 3rd October 1996:

"Stonehenge is a place of world significance and English Heritage and the National Trust remain adamant that the long tunnel is the only solution worthy of this remarkable place"

English Heritage

Speaking about cancellation of a previous version of the scheme, English Heritage Chairman Sir Jocelyn Stevens said:

"It is the end of a very ugly scheme to widen the A303 to a very ugly European motorway. Naturally, I am disappointed that the Government does not currently consider the long tunnel affordable." Daily Telegraph, 3rd October 1996

Today, Sir Jocelyn supports what many people see as another "very ugly scheme to widen the A303 to a very ugly European motorway".

And from the Daily Telegraph, Friday 10 November 1995:

'What Mr Stevens calls the "perfect solution", or Green Route, consists of a two-and-a-half-mile tunnel right underneath the World Heritage Site. This, published in outline before, has now been re-costed by Mott Macdonald, the road engineers, at £200 million instead of the £300-£350 million estimated by the Highways Agency. This route, Mr Stevens said: "would have no impact on the archaeology, no impact on the landscape or local housing and no impact on the environment from noise pollution"

Sir Jocelyn Stevens.

Department of Culture, Media, and Sport Press Release,  23 April 1999 (DCMS 101/99):

"I am absolutely thrilled to have been offered the opportunity of pushing the Stonehenge Master Plan along - nothing could suit me more."

Dr Geoffrey Wainwright (quoted in BBC News Online, 22 September 1998) said:

"It is total nonsense to say a great deal of archaeological damage will be done. The tunnel is for the greater good. You have to compromise."

But Dr Wainwright said something very different about the same plan four years later: (quoted in The Guardian, 11 December 2002:

"This is a much better deal than the cut and cover tunnel - the thought of gouging that massive trench across such a precious landscape just brought tears to my eyes."

The Prehistoric Society

"The destruction of 13.5 hectares [33 acres = 0.14 sq km] of the most archaeologically sensitive land surface of Europe, within a World Heritage Site, may be something which future generations will find hard to understand."

The Prehistoric Society, 1999.

The Lords

"The striving for the perfect will be an enemy to the good. One thing is certain: no solution can be imposed without upsetting someone. That may include some local people and even some distinguished archaeologists."

Lord Montagu, former Chairman of English Heritage. (Quoted in House of Lords Debate on Stonehenge, 13 June 1997)

Picture: Stonehenge by J.M.W. Turner

"The greatest disgrace is the wrong solution. Cut and cover is a barbaric method. No other country in the world would contemplate treating a site which is a world icon in such a way. The money for the long bore tunnel must be found."

Lord Kennet, former British Government planning minister. (Quoted in The Guardian, 19 August 1998.

"The wave of official opinion changes like thistle down from dawn to dusk. It was only four years ago that English Heritage and the National Trust were saying it was their solemn duty to do the exact opposite and build a deep bore tunnel."

Lord Kennet (Quoted in BBC News Online, 22 September 1998)

The consultants

"The scheme is seen as a major compromise by English Heritage and the National Trust...[and]... it is... of marginal economic benefit on transport grounds"

[Bold emphasis added]

Halcrow and Partners, consulting engineers to the Highways Agency in "Stonehenge: Review of English Heritage 2km Tunnel and Comparative Options" report to British Government ministers, 1998.